Hi! I was just wondering how you guys store your supplements, it usually says "store in a cool dark place". I keep my arsenal of supplements on a top shelve in the kitchen, but I was wondering if that is a bad place... How about you guys?

If you have air conditioning in the summer? That may be okay.

Top shelves tend to be warmer than lower down, but with air, it should be okay.

What is really hard on them is moisture. Magnesium, Arginine,
for example will sweat in humid weather. I don't have experience with EVERYTHING... but the general rule is that if there is a moisture packet in the bottle, then moisture is a problem. I've had some supplements that came with TWO packets or little plastic drums, or whatever. In the "business" we called them "do not eats" because that is what is on the outside! LOL

The enemies are 1) moisture, 2) heat, 3) light

Antioxidants, like Vit E and Vit C are very fragile and will go bad quickly. Oils like fish oil, flax oil and Vit E can be kept in the Frig and only a few in a Pharmacy vial be kept outside (properly labeled). Your pharmacy will give you extra vials, if you ask. They rarely charge you money for them. Unless you ask for many like 10 or 20 or something like that. The pharmacy vials are nice because they protect from light, and moisture because of their closures.

You can also ask your pharmacy to save "do not eats" for you, mostly from drugs that are film coated... and not powdery. Many pharmacies will keep them for you and they can be recharged at low temps like a low setting on a hair dryer if necessary.

Thanks MrsD! Think I'll move the bottles to a lower cabinet which seems to be much cooler. I always try to keep the "do not eat's" in the bottle. I'll try to get a hold of some bottles from the pharmacy . You're such a treasure for this site MrsD, sometimes I just wanna give you a hug for your immense work, thanks a lot!

I'll share this funny story with you....

I had an intern once who wanted us to save the "do not eats" for his corvette when he put it in storage! Some logic missing on THAT ONE! LOL

I keep some "do not eats" with me upNorth on vacation. It is very humid up there on the lake sometimes. When the fog rolls in our mirrors inside go steamy even. No A/C or electricity up there!

But kept in a tight drawer, with protection, I've kept RX meds and some sensitive things safely even there!

I just cleaned out a drawer however with a large bottle of Arginine from NOW from last year, and it was all decomposed into a rock hard mess, of solid powder. That is the worst I've had go bad on me. Magnesium is the next most sensitive one after it is opened.. the "do not eats" don't seem to work after the seal is broken (this is for Mag64--generic for SlowMag).

We've never had any problem putting them in the fridge. The containers have always been air/moisture tight enough.

Doc

We have to do the opposite - keep humidifiers in our musical instruments.

Doc

There are some meds that shouldn't be refrigerated, though, so read the bottle. Some of them, like some fish oils, actually should not be refrigerated. The refrigerator is a dry place, so I do keep many meds in there. The kitchen isn't a bad place at all, no matter how high the shelf if you have an air-conditioned home. The kitchen is not as humid as a bathroom.

Typically, though, if you're taking them regularly, and the bottle only lasts 2 months, humidity won't be a big concern. It's when you leave the bottle for a year or more and then tablets do start to break apart. Capsules may "weep" and some of them may feel oily.

Light can degrade medications, too, so keep the opaque bottles they come in.

Stacy

Hi Stacy,

Do you happen to know why that is? Fish are cold-blooded, and many/most of the species they get the oils from live in very cold water as well. I can see how freezing might not be good for fish oil (though some fish can survive freezing & rethawing) but typical refrigeration (~40°F / ~4°C) seems intuitively ok.

We read labels - don't have anything currently that dissuades refrigeration.

Doc

Fish oils are prone to oxidation, and the cooler refrigerator retards this better than room temp.

Dr. Eades recommends putting fish oil in the frig:
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/u...ized-fish-oil/

I've done this for over a decade, and nothing negative has ever happened to them in there, for us. We do not have central A/C and that seems the best place IMO for us.

It is not always, believeable what manufacturers put on their
product labels. Also they do not always give good instructions on how to take things either! B12 is a case in point....
"timed release" oral---- GADS
Take with food--- both are not ideal. But both are available to consumers.

Lovaza RX fish even has transfats in them: Transfats are less prone to oxidation and that is why they were in our food for so many years--to extend shelf life.
from https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...j7vzQkGQbhnOIg

Really healthy? not

In really humid locations, homes where fog and lake/ocean moisture accumulate, opening the bottles as little as possible is a good idea. Keeping a several day stash in a smaller bottle like a pharmacy vial that is designed to minimize moisture helps. That way you only open the "mother bottle" every few days.
Make sure to clearly mark and little temp bottle...I run labels off on my computer in large font...for this.

UpNorth where the fog penetrates the house some days, I keep all my supplements and RX meds in tightly closed plastic totes.
I've never had anything go bad this way, but my mirrors all over the house and inside windows can fog up in really extreme weather.

I agree that the refrigerator is quite okay. If one really wants to see some terrible storage....just try to understand insulin storage these days. We have a member here who was on the ACCORD program, and her Lantus was kept on a shelf in a room and given to her there that way! She said it was never cold. And BTW it was FREE. Not unlike Dr. Eades' claims that the fish oil used in studies may be rancid as well!
http://www.lantus.com/currently-on-lantus/storage.aspx
How awful is THAT? Questions about storage of insulin still are very numerous on the net.

I believe the refrigeration warning for fish oil, pertains to the gelatin capsule, not the fish oil. However today, the enteric coated ones are much better IMO. We have never seen any oil capsule deteriorate in the frig. So I will continue to keep them there.

Some oils, like krill oil, shouldn't be refrigerated (in general) because of the gelatin capsule--they will leak as they contract.

It's not a bad idea to refrigerate most medications, but again, if you take them pretty quickly (within 2 months or so), it's not necessary. You'll take them before they can degrade. Unless your house is really humid and moist, like my former neighbor who had lots of plants and put cellophane over her windows. Anyone could see from outside that her house was just like a greenhouse.

I just don't want anyone to think that they have to carry an icepack for their routine meds and supplements when they travel! Just don't keep them in a hot car where they would melt. And that's the reason I never put my supplements in my checked luggage.

Stacy